The afternoon was more grueling and much hotter than the morning had been, but even more surprising was the fact that the sky was clear blue. If not for the reports on TV, I wouldn't have believed a storm was headed our way. The sun was shining so bright that it hurt my eyes as it reflected off the black asphalt of the parking lot. By mid-afternoon we were all drenched in sweat, which caused the sand to cake to our bodies. It was miserable. The only one who seemed unaffected was Farrah. She bounced around happily, like we had spent the day at a theme park.
The pile of sandbags we created was enough to keep up with the demand of the local residents, but Vanessa said she was still receiving calls for them all day long. My body was spent. There wasn't a muscle on my body that didn't cry when I moved. Even worse than muscle soreness was the way Josh gave me the same nod and grin before heading off to his truck. My aggravation was beginning to boil.
"What's up with that?" Farrah asked as we stood off to the side by ourselves.
"I don't know. We're figuring things out. Part of it is my fault because I kinda said we needed to get to know each other more, but I didn't mean we had to come to a halt."
Farrah nodded as if agreeing with me. "What did he say to that?"
"We haven't talked about it again since that night. I don't know if he's waiting for me or worried about the guys at work finding out," I said, kicking a shovel that was leaning against the wall.
On the way home we dropped Farrah off at her house after she made us promise we'd wait for her in the morning. Waving at her through the window, I watched as she gingerly made her way up her front steps. The work high must have worn off because she no longer had the same bounce in her step. I felt her pain.
The next morning there seemed to be a heightened sense of urgency in everyone at the patrol station. The wind had begun to pick up slightly and finally you could feel a change in the weather that hadn't been noticeable earlier in the week. Just as Josh predicted, the residents in low-lying areas were asked to evacuate, while those in higher non-flood zones were put on alert. Temporary shelters were opened farther inland, and residents were busy boarding up their homes. Butch abandoned sand detail to use his saw to help people who had purchased plywood b
ut had no power tools. Farrah's parents insisted she join them at the hotel rooms they had reserved. They volunteered to let me tag along, but I insisted I needed to stay for my community service obligation. Truthfully, I only used my sentence as an excuse. My sheet was quickly filling up with all the extra hours I had been working, but I didn't want to leave. I was beginning to feel a sense of pride in helping out and in a kooky way considered it making up for my past sins. Josh and I remained in a holding pattern. My resolve to take it slow was disappearing as quickly as the sand piles we had used to fill the bags.
"You want some lunch?" he asked, pointing inside the building as I tied up what felt like my millionth sandbag.
"Sure." I grinned. The weariness I had felt on previous days was gone. My body was quickly adjusting to the physical labor.
"Are you guys still going to ride out the storm?" Josh asked conversationally, handing me a paper plate with a six-inch sub on it.
"Thanks," I said, reaching for a bag of chips and a can of soda. The local beachside businesses had gone all out to make sure the workers and volunteers remained well fed. It was the least they could do since many of the guys from the station helped them get their storefronts ready for the storm. "We have a few suitcases ready to go in case things escalate, but for now, we plan on staying."
Butch had already told Mitch that he would be on hand if he needed him. I was more worried about Player, but Farrah was able to talk her parents into letting him hang out at the hotel with them.
"Maybe you should think about joining Farrah," Josh said, opening his bag of chips.
"I thought you weren't worried about this storm?" I teased.
"I'm not, but you never know. It's just that things will probably get hairy around here. There's always some yahoo who decides to do something stupid like try to catch the next big wave to Australia or some shit like that."
I chuckled at his words. "I bet Larry will be one of them," I teased.
"Nah, these waves are different. Too choppy. You're a serious asshole if you go out during a hurricane," he said, shaking his head. He reached out and tugged on my ponytail. My breath hitched as his knuckles brushed across my neck. It was the first time he'd initiated intimate contact since the night we kissed on the beach. "Regardless, I just want you to be safe."
"You do?" I sighed as his thumb lightly stroked the back of my neck.
"I do." He looked into my eyes, smiling.
"We sound like a Hallmark card," I said, trying to interject some humor so he wouldn't notice my knees were practically quaking.
"Truth," he answered, rubbing his thumb in a circle over my shoulders.
I fought the urge to drop my head forward. I now knew why Player purred every time I rubbed his neck. "You know, we really need to talk," I said hesitantly.
"About?"
I turned my head away, rolling my eyes. He could act dense if he wanted to, but he knew very well what I meant. "About us. You know, where this is going."
"We're getting to know each other, like you wanted, right?"
"Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I just wanted to make sure we were both on the same page," I said awkwardly. I couldn't believe I had chickened out. Actually, it wasn't that I was afraid, but with the attitude of indifference he had been displaying, I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself out there unless I knew he was 100 percent in.
"Cool," he replied, continuing to rub my neck. "So, you read a lot of cards?"
"What?" I asked, zoning out on his question.